The battle in the streets was close to concluding. Over 230 Emperor Guards laid dead. The rest of the S-3s were pushing forward on the rest of the dozen or so Emperor Guards, firing while moving.
Another crucio round sent five Guards flying through the air. When they landed again, they were no longer breathing.
The neural toxin has started to fade, but the Emperor Guards were already too down on numbers to fight back. The most they could do was form a circle of blue energy shield, deflecting the incoming shots and buying as much time as they could.
All these mysterious projectile weapons were creating quite a fuss. Plus, these were multi-story tall metal constructs they were fighting! The rest of the city must have seen this, right?
These Emperor Guards didn't know small skirmishes like this were going on all across the city. Loyal Emperor Guards tried to enforce the position as soon as they learned what was happening, but Jean has set up ambushes at all the key intersections. By the time the Moon forces breakthrough, it would be too late.
Jean and her underlings walked out of the house. She raised her hand, and all the S-3s stopped firing. She didn't want a stray bullet to ruin her day.
Plus, she wanted to see Benedictine before he dies, not because she wanted to gloat, but because a show of power would be another hammer that drives fear and loyalty toward her deeper inside the heart of her accomplices.
The remaining Emperor Guards and Benedictine alike turned to Jean. They could all see she was the woman in charge here, but none of them struck. All of them would gladly die for the cause, but willing to die and trying to die were two very different things.
Jean stood still. Her Voyager armor covered her entire body, revealing only her face. Dozens of metal Warden units stood their posts around her. Her enemies were like trapped rats, desperate, cornered, and waiting for her to decide on their fate.
For a moment, she radiated of power.
It was as if the world was under her control. Her conspirators, whatever they were truly thinking, lowered their head in submission.
Benedictine suddenly grinned. He clapped his hands slowly. He was a trapped beast, but he didn't seem worried at all.
It was almost a replay of what happened at the Offering Ceremony, just before legions of Emperor Guards charged in and wiped the floor with the blood of the rogues.
“Bravo. Nice job. Congratulations.” He looked into Jean’s eyes. “So you are the one behind everything. The assassination. Were you involved in the death of my nephew as well? What about Prince Charle? Did you give the order to have him killed and have the Empire of the Sun framed for it? Why go through all this trouble? What can you gain from this?”
Jean didn't answer. Benedictine might or might not be faking the confidence, but either way, she wanted to watch it play out.
The field was dead silent. Gunshots could be heard from a distance away, but they were merely the background music.
Benedictine was obviously unhappy about the lack of response. A provoking smirk found its way into his face.
“Wow. Really? Am I that intimidating? I am surrounded, wounded, and without my forces, and even now you are afraid I have something planned?”
Jean didn't say a word.
“Well,” Benedictine sighed. He lowered his head and paused for a second.
“Pity.”
Suddenly, he looked up again, but Jean’s eyes widened slightly as she saw Benedictine’s face.
The Emperor’s face was shining in blue light. In mere seconds, runes so complicated just looking at them made Jean dizzy appeared across Benedictine’s face. Wait, scratch that. Those runes were popping up all across his body. His weapon and his armor shined in blue as well.
Everything joined together, turning Benedictine into a fully blue warrior.
“Open fire!” Jean ordered without a moment of hesitation as she dashed backward.
All the S-3s started shooting. High caliber rounds blasted through the shield the rest of the Emperor Guards formed. In less than a second, twenty rounds smashed straight into Benedictine. Thanks to the advanced Warden targeting algorithm, none of those shots were wasted.
But Jean didn't relax. Instead, she was dashing backward. Her observers have told her those shots didn't finish the job.
Out of the ashes, a blue figure emerged. Benedictine didn't even seem to be wounded. Enough shots to dismantle a Colesseus were wasted.
He must have a CAS of at least 200 to do that.
How?
Jean’s face was ice cold. She knew there were powerful individuals in this world. Some of whom, with the help of runes and Formations, could take on Voyagers in a straight-up fight. But Benedictine didn't have an army contributing rune energy for him. Even if his weapons and armors were especially well designed, they shouldn’t be enough to help him do this.
That was when her eyes twitched. In orbit, her observers zoomed in on Benedictine.
She knew what was special about Benedictine.
Benedictine’s entire body was covered with runes. It wasn’t just his weapon and armor. It was his flesh and skin. It was as if his entire body was forged into a runed weapon.
She has never seen anything like this. Carving runes into human beings? Forging living, breathing people into weapons the same way you forge a sword? How is that even possible? How is Benedictine even alive with all those energy flowing through his body?
The S-3s kept on shooting, but their ammunition were useless against an entity as powerful as Benedictine. The emperor charged right into one of the S-3s. Layers and layers of metal, designed to deflect zealot psionic blades, were simply punched through. In moments, Benedictine appeared behind the S-3. A giant hole was behind him.
The S-3 collapsed. With its last energies, the Warden AI ordered the strider to self detonate, but even the self-destruction couldn’t graze Benedictine.
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Two more S-3s fell victim to Benedictine in just moments.
The generals and of officials were paralyzed in fear. Some of them were next to broken by the frequent switch between extreme excitement and extreme stress. Some of them were already looking for a way out. Most of them kept their eyes on Jean Turner. If she showed any sign of fear, they would be the first to flee.
Jean stood there, thinking. The rune technology used on Benedictine was nothing like those inside the two empires. She has interrogated the conscious of the Rune Crafters before putting them to work on developing runes for Warden and Purifier units, and they never mentioned anything like this.
If she could get her hands on this technology…
As she was still thinking, Benedictine suddenly turned around and charged straight at her. His plan was clear. If Jean couldn’t be lured into giving out what her plan was, then he would force it out of her.
This was why he waited this long before revealing this card.
Whatever happens, the Empire of the Moon will not fall this day.
“Miss Turner!” The generals and officials shook as they saw Benedictine closing in. Two more S-3s rained down fire on the emperor, but it simply wasn’t enough. Benedictine beheaded one and sent out an energy blade that decimated the other before arriving in front of Jean.
“Ready to talk now?”
Jean glanced at him.
Benedictine’s eyes went cold as he suddenly slashed his sword forward, aiming for Jean’s arm. He needed Jean alive for interrogation, but he didn't need her to be feeling well for that.
The men behind Jean were already considering what to say to convince Benedictine not to kill them. Perhaps giving out their comrades before they do the same could get the job done.
Just before the sword was about to land on Jean, the girl suddenly reached forward and grabbed onto the blade.
Rivers of blue rune energy focused at the tip of the blade, but Jean’s hands didn't seem to be affected in the slightest way.
She just held the blade there, no matter how hard Benedictine pushed.
Through most of this mission, Jean pretended to be a Voyager whose power relied on her standard weapons, her tactics, and her summoned units, but deep down, she was by no means a pushover herself.
What seemed like years ago, Jean was mortally wounded by a brainwashed Viper. She was taken to the planet of the primal zerg, Zerus, where she was inserted with primal zerg genes. This granted her a number of powers, including super-strength, rapid reflex, and the signature of zerg biotechnology, rapid regeneration.
As soon as the blade struck her hand, those zerg genes came into action. Her tender fingers contained enough strength to rip through a siege tank. The blade, at the height of its power, did some damage, but that damage were instantly healed.
Benedictine might be CAS 200, but last she checked, Jean was at 259.
A single punch to the chest armor from Jean sent Benedictine onto the ground. His armor was reduced to a thousand pieces of metal shreds. The runes all across his body started to dim down. Their energy was gone. Pieces of metal were projected into his body by the blow.
The entity who seemed like the god of war just moments ago was on the ground now, coughing blood uncontrollably.
The higher the CAS, the more difference a single CAS value could make.
The S-3s turned to the rest of the Emperor Guards and slaughtered them effortlessly.
Jean knelt down beside Benedictine. The man wasn’t willing to give up just yet. The runes on his body seemed to be coming back online. His hand reached for his sword on the ground.
If he could take this girl by surprise...
That was when Jean stepped on his sword reaching arm and crushed every bone inside.
Even Benedictine couldn’t suppress an ear-piercing scream.
Jean sent another blow to Benedictine’s head and knocked him clean out before turning to her comrades. All of them immediately lowered their head in complete and utter submission. Not a single one of them even dared to breathe too heavily.
Jean wiped a drop of blood off her palm.
“What are you waiting for?”
Her accomplices immediately started moving.
----------------------------------------
Inside his mansion, Crown Prince Leon sighed.
Teresa stood in front of him. She was in a set of black armor. She stared at Leon coldly.
Leon bit his lips. Ambition still clouded his heart, but right now, he couldn’t help but think he was in some real trouble. Jean’s assassination attempt has failed, and judging from the massacre at the ceremony, she lost most of her assets in the process. His priority now should be to keep himself alive.
Benedictine spared him, but both Leon and Benedictine knew it was just a temporary thing. Right now, Benedictine’s men must be gathering evidence on those who were behind this assassination. Once all the evidence was in place, if Leon was involved, his head would be set on the pikes along with that of the other conspirators.
The woman in black was the perfect proof of that.
Suddenly, a figure emerged from the shadows. Black armor. Black mask. A weird looking stick pointing at Teresa.
Teresa snapped around and faced the figure.
“Drop your weapon, fool.” The figure opened her mask, revealing a familiar face.
“What…” Teresa’s eyes widened. She recognized who it was. “you! You should be dead!”
After all, she just saw the mercenary getting shot through the heart a few hours ago!
Blink smirked and tilted her neck gently.
“You see, there’s a technology called cloning. And then, there’s a thing called conscious replication, not that you natives would have any idea what those are.”
Usually, she would be much less talkative, but moments ago, she just watched as a clone with a replication of her own mind getting killed by a group of puny locals. She herself didn't feel a thing, but seeing a person identical to her get stabbed in the back wasn’t the most exciting.
Plus…
Teresa suddenly screamed something.
“Take her down!”
The sight of a thousand arrows being unleashed didn't happen. Instead, all she got was the mocking smile from Blink.
“Oh...I’m assuming you were talking to the 54 people around the house? Black armor. Fancy crossbows. Stern look.” She waved her hand and tossed something to Teresa. “And spread out across the mansion with no way of seeing cloaked enemies.”
Teresa caught the object. It was a severed head.
It belonged to the captain of the squad of assassins.
Blink raised her Voyager rifle. It would be more than enough to blast a hole through Teresa’s chest, but that was when Leon suddenly said something.
“Leave her to me.”
“What?”
“Leave her to me.”
“Oh…” Blink smirked. She almost thought Leon was joking. “if I leave now, she will snap your neck before you can say ‘you’re welcome’.”
“Then disable her.”
“Look,” Blink wasn’t quite happy with the request, especially after she realized Leon was serious. “there are a lot of pretty girls in the empire. There’s no need to stick to an assassin. If you like this style, then at least let me have her for a day or two. I swear after that, she will be a loyal house cat to you.”
All Voyagers had some means of torture. The more inexperienced ones act on the physical body. The skilled ones act on one’s soul.
Leon didn't flinch.
“Leave her to me. Don’t make me say it a fourth time.”
Blink’s smile was completely gone. She put some pressure on the trigger, flirting with the idea of shooting both locals right then and there, but she remembered how much emphasis Jean placed on Leon. The Voyagers didn't have a foundation here. They needed to use Leon to have the right to rule the Empire of the Moon. Killing Leon would be easy, but explaining to Jean why the three Voyagers had to kill their way through armies of Moon loyalists wouldn’t be.
Plus, what could a single assassin do when the entire field was taken? Benedictine was captured. The Emperor Guards had their existence on a timer. It was over.
No need to risk creating more issues for a single woman.
Blink finally nodded and started backing up. As she moved, shadows started to rise from the floor. Within just seconds, the darkness has already consumed her.